Codex Gisle: written and illuminated by a woman

Just announced by Quaternio Verlag Luzern, the Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock is an amazing facsimile edition of an exceedingly rare manuscript illuminated by this nun from Rulle.

For this year Frankfurt Book Fair, Quaternio Verlag Luzern has prepared a surprise for all illuminated manuscript lovers, kinda like having your birthday coming early! And Facsimile Finder has managed, once again, to be ahead of the news and is proud to present a preview of this masterpiece: the Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock.

What is so special about the Codex Gisle, you may ask? Why, the fact that it is written and illustrated by a woman in a men’s world of course! Finding works entirely, or even partially, made by women is extremely rare in the Middle Ages, and this is one of the finest examples, albeit a most obscure one. But we hope that the efforts of Quaternio Verlag will help in making this kind of manuscript widely known and appreciated.

Gisela von Kerssenbrock: nun and choir-mistress in Marienbrunn

Gisela of Kerzenbroeck, or, as she is also known, Gisela von Kerssenbrock, was a nun in the Cistercian convent of Marienbrunn, located in Rulle, a little village in the lower Saxony, near Osnabrück. She was one of the very few women who dedicated their life to writing and illustrating manuscripts.

Her most famous work is the Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock, or Codex Gisle, written around the XIV Century. In an inscription, also dated XIV Century, can be read:

“The venerable and devout virgin Gisela von Kerssenbrock wrote, illuminated, notated, paginated and decorated in gold letters and beautiful images this extraordinary book in her own memory, in the year of the Lord 1300. May her soul rest in peace. Amen”

leaving no doubt on the identity of the artist.

Historiated initial from the Codex Gisle, by Gisela von Kerssenbrock

The Codex Gisle contains 53 historiated initials, depicting the life of Christ, from the visit of Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin to his Ascension to Heaven. This great number of images, very literal in their quotation of the Liturgy, makes this book one of the most decorated manuscript of its genre.

Among the numerous images painted by Gisela, the ones depicting Christmas and Easter also portray kneeling nuns, one of whom has been identified as Gisela herself, thus giving us a portrait of the artist. The fact that she is leading the other nuns in their singing, led the experts to think that she was the choir-mistress.

The beautiful style can be called an elegant courtly Gothic, thanks to the finery of the work and the high quality of the miniatures: Gisela can truly be called one of the most gifted artists of the Middle Ages.

The high quality of the miniatures ranks her among the most gifted women artists of the Middle Ages. (Judith Oliver, in Singing with Angels)

The Codex Gisle was used in the celebration of the Mass, thus giving us a fair idea of the cycle of feasts, complete with readings and rituals, and of the everyday life in a Convent such as that of Marienbrunn, which consisted non only of private moments, as we are used to from testimonies of that times, but also of communal life.

Oliver, Judith, “Worship and the Word: Some Gothic ‘Nonnenbticher’ in their Devotional Context.” In Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence, edited by Lesley Smith and Jane H. M. Taylor, 106-122. London: The British Library, 1997, here 108-114.